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U.S. Army's '17-pound GPS unit'

A test run of the tech-focused Land Warrior system in Iraq has soldiers complaining that they're carrying a lot of extra weight for what they actually get.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
Expertise AI, tech, language, grammar, writing, editing Credentials
  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
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Jon Skillings
Gerry J. Gilmore

The budget ax has not been kind to the U.S. Army's long-running, tech-focused Land Warrior system, but last year backers did manage to get a small test deployment into the field in Iraq with one infantry battalion. Soldiers involved in the test have had some good things to say about the system, which among other things is built to deliver real-time location information via digital maps in helmet-mounted eyepieces. But they also say many features go unused, or don't always work as they're intended to, and that just means a lot of useless extra weight to carry. Upgrades are on the way, backers say.

Read more at Military.com: "Land Warrior Needs Work, Soldiers Say"